Travelling cleaner for textile machinery



March 28, 1961 J.- F. KING, JR

TRAVELLING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY Filed March 12, 1956 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR James F King J/r ATTORNEYS /1 W JJJW 20 Rd March28, 1961 J. F. KING, JR 2,976,557

TRAVELLING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY Filed March 12, 1956 5Sheets-Sheet 2 l l l I l l l INVENTOR fies EKir- Jr:

v ATTORNEYS March 28, 1961 J. F. KING, JR 2,976,557

TRAVELLING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY Filed March 12, 1956 5Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR darnes .FKih Jh BY f 12. J i/$ ATTORNEY March28, 1961 J. F. KING, JR 2,976,557

TRAVELLING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY Filed March 12, 1956 5Sheets-Sheet 4 1 m 502% & kw

ATTORNEYS TRAVELLING CLEANER FOR TEXTILE MACHINERY James F Km Jr:

BY WJJWM MJM ATTORNEYS TRAVELLING CLEANER non 'rnx'rnin MACHINERY JamesF. King, Jr., Winston-Saiern, Nil, assignor to The Bahnsen Company,Winston-Salem, N.., a corporation of North Carolina a and; Mar. 12,1956, Ser. No. 57e,s95

in Claims. to]. -312 This invention relates to the art of cleaningtextile processing machinery and more particularly to cleaners of thepneumatic type adapted to travel along a trackway located at a levelabove the textile machinery and blow towards the same with streams ofair which clear the accumulated lint and other particles from suchexposed surfaces of the machines as can be effectively reached by thestreams. Travelling cleaners of this general type have been designed inthe past but within applicants knowledge all of such designs havesuffered from the disadvantage in not being able to reach certain of themachine surfaces. As a result, additional cleaners have been required tokeep these hard-to-reach surfaces free from lint.

Theobject of the present invention is to present an improvedconstruction which can be deemed universal in character in that it isable to reach practically all of the exposed surfaces on the machine onwhich lint is prone to collect. Moreover, the cleaner embodies airnozzles which direct blasts of cleaning air not only at the parts of themachine itself but also at the overhead structure and ceiling thuseliminating the necessity for providing specially designed blow-01fdevices for such purposes.

In general, the improved cleaner construction is con stituted by acarriage adapted to travel along a trackway located at a level above andlongitudinally of the machine to be cleaned, and a plurality of airnozzles lo cated laterally outward from the longitudinal axis ofmachineand which are arranged to sweep inwardly towards the sides and topsurfaces of the machine in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis ofthe machine,

The air nozzles are preferably arranged for continuous rotationthroughout a complete circle but they can be arranged to oscillate inany given angle less than 360 if such is desired. Also, some of the airnozzles can be arranged to blow at a fixed angle while others can bemade to sweep through a given are orthrough a cone plete circle. Also,the nozzles can be made to index through a given angle rather than beshifted in a continuous manner. According to one embodiment to behereinafter described, the air nozzles are constituted by the outletsfrom the casings of motor-driven centrifugal blowers located on armsprojecting laterally outward from a carriage adapted to travellongitudinally of the machine to be cleaned, on a track located abovethe machine and generally aligned with the longitudinal axis of themachine.

The present invention willbe better understood by those skilled in theart from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments andfrom the accom panying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of a travelling cleaner inaccordance with the invention as applied to a spinning frame or the likewherein a'plurality of centrifugal blowers are arranged transverselyoutward from the longitudinal axis of the spinningframe,

2,976,557 Patented Mar. 28, 1951 the casings for the blowers beingarranged in-vertical planes normal to the longitudinal axis of theframe, and each casing and its nozzle outlets being driven in rota tionabout a horizontal axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the framethereby to deliver the air streams issuing from the nozzles in variousangular directions in the plane normal to the longitudinal axis of thespinning frame thus sweeping the latter in a generally transversedirection from top to bottom or vice versa and also blowing off thefloor and overhead structure;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the travelling cleaner shown in Fig. 1; i

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the travelling cleaner shown in Fig. 1 andalso showing a portion of the spin ning frame, above and outwardly ofwhich the centrifur self-propelled carriage taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6and drawn to a larger scale than Figs. 1-4 to better illustrate thestructural details embodied therein;

Fig. '6 is a transverse vertical section on line 66 of Fig. 5and-drawn-to the same ;scaleas Fig. 5, this view showingthearrangement'for rotating the blower casings; Fig. 7 is a view partlyin plan andpartly in section on line 7-7 of Fig. 6- showing structuraldetails similar to those of Fig. 6;- f f Fig. 8 is a verticaltransverse.sectionoirline3 S of Fig. 5 showing the power take-off forrotating the lQWr casings; and i l Fig. 9 is a view in vertical sectiontaken on line 'of Fig. 8 showing similar structural detail's'but lookingin a direction at right angles to Fig. 8.

With reference now to the embodiments lof the in /e11 tion illustratedin Figs l-Q, the travellingjcleaner is see n to include a carriage 1which can be towed but preferably is arranged to beself-propelle'd alongatr'ackway consisting of a pair of spaced railsZ, 3, inthe form of anglemembers located above a row of spinning frames as is indicated in Fig.3, these rails extending'longitudinally of the frames and being ingeneral alignment with the longitudinal axis of the frames. "Also, theheight of the rails 2, 3 above the floor is so selected that thecleaning apparatus supported upon the carr-iage has along the top edgesofthe flanges of the rails 2, 3 and be-' ing guided along the samebysets of rollers 10, 11 which are arranged to bear against the oppositesides of the rail flanges. To better enable the carriage 1 to negotiatecurved sections of the trackway, the front wheels 12, 13 of the carriageare mounted on a horizontal axle 14 which is capable of being shiftedabout a vertical axis.

Also, the mounting for axle 14 is preferably such that it may be swungabout its center in a vertical plane. To these ends,it will be seen thatthe front axle 14 is journalled in a transverse bearing support 15which, in r is c re pi lly y mea of a ho zo t l rivet pin 16 to asupport 17 depending from the center portion of a tie member 18 spanningthe pipes 4 and 5 of the frame. The upper part of support 17 is tubularand a bolt 19 passing vertically through the same into the tie member 18enables the support 17 to turn about the axis of the bolt 19. With thisarrangement, the front axle 14 can swing about the axis of bolt 19 tothus enable the front wheels 12, 13 to negotiate a curve in thetrackway. The front axle 14 is also enabled to swing about the axisofhorizontal pivot pin 16 so as to accommodate any slight differences inlevel between the two rails 2, 3. The front Wheel 12 is flanged at oneside to keep it on its associated rail 3 and two longitudinally-spacedsets of guide wheels 21, 22 adapted to con cal of the many constructionswhich may be utilizedfor the self-propelled carriage and are notspecifically relied upon for patentable novelty. Moreover, as previouslyindicated, the carriage may omit the self-propelled feature and simplybe towed by a separate power unit. Electrical power for driving themotor 7 is obtained by collector shoes mounted on the carriage andconnected to the motor, the shoes running in contact with conductingrails carried by but suitably insulated fron'i'the trackway structure.These details havenot been illustrated since power pick-ups of thisgeneral type are well known in the art.

As previously indicated, the principal objective of this invention is tolocate air blast nozzles laterally outward from the machines to becleaned and to sweep those nozzles in a plane generally transverse tothe longitudinal direction of the spinning frame or other textilemachinery as the cleaner travels along the trackway. Accordingly, thecarriage'frame 1 includes a bracket v26 depending from the pipe members4, Sand which is provided with a transversely extendingbore 27 in whichis secured an arm in the form of apipe 28 that extends laterally outwardfrom opposite sides of the'carriage 1 preferably to a pointlocatedapproximately midway between adjacent rows of spinning frames F. Eachouter: end of pipe 28 is entered into a bracket 29 that is secured to anelectric 7 motor 30 which receives its power from the same conductorrails as furnish power for the carriage drive motor 7. While each motor30 may be arranged to drive a single centrifugal blower, it ispreferable to make each of the two motors 30 of the double-ended shafttype for driving two blowers. That is to say, each motor 30 includes ahorizontal drive shaft 31 which extends from each end of the motorcasing, the drive shafts 31 being arranged parallel with the directionof travel of the carriage 1 along the spinning frames F. Secured to eachend of each drive shaft 31 is the fan element 32 of a centrifugal blower33. The casing elements 34 of the four blowers I33 arrangedrin 'avertical plane surround their respective fans 32 and each 'of thesecasings has an axial air intake 35 and at least a single and preferably36, 37 disposed 180 apart aboutthe axis of the blower. The nozzles 36,37 thus direct air streams therefrom in opposite directions in avertical plane transverse to the direction of travel of the carriage.the streams of air issuing from nozzles 36, 37 to sweep through anangle, the invention provides means for effecting rotation of one orboth blower casings 34 at each side of the carriage 1 and hence also thenozzles 36, 37 of such casings. Movement of the'casings 34 can beangular oscillatory through any desired sweep angle or continuousrotation in one direction can be employed. In the illustratedembodiment, the casings are rotated In order to causea pairof'tangential oppositely directed outlet nozzles continuously in onedirection and the nozzles 36, 37 are thus caused to sweep the airstreams issuing therefrom inwardly toward the side of the spinningframe, reaching the same and blowing oif all surfaces thereof betweenthe floor and the top of the frame. With a loop track layout and themotors 30, blowers 33 and nozzles 36, 37 being rotatable about ahorizontal axis parallel with and approximately intermediate adjacentrows of spinning frames, it will beevident that as the carriage 1 movesalong the trackway, each of the rotating nozzles will sweep the airstream issuing therefrom transversely along the side of one frame duringapproximately one half a revolution of the blower casing 34 and thensweep transversely along the side of the frame in the adjacent rowduring approximately the other half revolution of blower casing 34.Also, it will be evident that as each nozzle 36, 37 becomes directedgenerally upward, the air stream issuing therefrom will sweep across theoverhead thus cleaning accumulations of lint off surfaces of the latteras well as the spinning frames themselves.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1, 6 and 7, the casings 34 of allfour of the centrifugal blowers 33 are arranged for continuous rotation.The related structural details for supporting each casing 34 forrotation are best shown in Figs. 6 and 7. There it will be seen that aflanged ring 38 is secured by a plurality of circumferentially spacedbolts 39 to the inner end face of each casing 34, each ring beingconcentric with the axis of the casing and motor shaft 31. Mounted uponeach ring 38 is a sprocket .41, also secured in place by the bolts 39. Aplurality of circumferentially spaced studs 42 project axially from theadjacent face of the motor 30 and each stud 42 mounts a roller 43, theserollers being arranged with their axes located at such equal radialdistances from the center of motor shaft 31 that a circle tangent tothe-outer faces of the rollers has the same radius as the internalsurface 38a of ring 38. As shown in Fig. 6 the ring 38 and casing 34 aremounted upon the rollers 43 and hence provide an anti-friction mountingfor rotation of the blower casings 34 about dreams of motor shafts 31. e

To effect rotation of blower casings 34 it will be seen that ahorizontal shaft 45 is arranged parallel with each motor shaft31' andpasses through the bracket structure 29 by which the motor 30 ismounted, each shaft45 being journalled in its corresponding structure 29by means of spaced sleeve bearings 46. Small sprockets 47 are mounted onopposite ends of each shaft 45 and a chain 48 connects each of thesprockets 47 with its larger, companion sprocket 41 inalignment'therewith. A bevel gear 49 secured upon each shaft 45 servesto rotate the latter and hence also the sprockets 41, 47 and casings 34,and

gears 49 are meshed respectively with bevel gears 50 secured to theopposite ends of a horizontal shaft 51 arranged normal to shafts 45 andwhich extends between the same, passing through a central bearing 52located on the carriage 1. As-shown in Figs. 6, 8 and 9, a bevel gear 53is secured upon shaft 51 at a location within the carriage 1 and mesheswith a bevel gear 54 secured to the upper end of a shaft 55 extendingvertically downward, there being a friction-wheel 56 secured to thelower end of shaft 55 which rolls in contact with the vertical flange ofrail 3. The bearing structure for shaft 55 includes the dependingsupport bracket 26, the lower portion of which terminates in a U-shapedstructure 26a opening downwardly; The lower bearing structure for shaft55 is contained within a generally vertical tubular member 57 throughwhich shaft 55 passes,'and'the upper portion of member 57 terminates in:a U-shaped structure 57a opening upwardly and being received in thedownwardly opening vU-shaped structure 26a.- Co-axially arranged pivotpins 58 interconnect the leg portions of the two U-shaped structures26a, 57a and thus provide 'for a limited amount of pivotal motion ofshaft 55 about the axis of pivot pins 58, the upper bearing59 for theSupper portion of shaft 55 being such as to accommodate the slightpivotal motion of shaft 55. As seen in Fig. 8, the supporting structurefor the lower end of shaft 55 includes a laterally extending arm 57b towhich the lower end of a tension spring 60 is secured, the other upperend of spring 60 being anchored to a laterally projecting arm 26b onbracket 26 at a point above the pivot pins 58. Thus it will be evidentfrom Fig. 8 that the tension in spring 60 will always be such as to urgethe power take-off wheel 57 against the flange of rail 3 thus preventingany slippage therebetween and hence assuring continuous rotation of thedrive input for effecting continuous rotation of the blower casings 34.

In the embodiment above described, all of the casings of the centrifugalblowers rotate continuously and hence also do their nozzles. Under someconditions it may be preferable to rotate only some of the blowercasings and maintain others in a given stationary position sothe airissuing from the stationary nozzle or nozzles can be directed at a fixedangle, for example to some particular part of the spinning frame whichmay require special attention in order to keep it free from lintaccumulation. Such an arrangement is shown in the embodiment of Fig. 4.There the structure is seen to be quite similar to that which haspreviously been described, and the desired result is obtained byarranging the shafting 45' to extend to only one of the two centrifugalblower units located laterally outward to each side of the carriage.Thus, in Fig. 4, shafting 45' which is driven by bevelled gears 49, 50and shaft 51' is connected via sprockets and chains 48' to only oneblower casing 34 of each pair of blowers. The other blower casing 34" ofeach pair and its nozzles 36", 37" do not rotate in a continuous mannerbut rather are rotatably mounted and adjustable to any desired positionwith respect to the stationary housing of the motor so that each nozzlewill direct its corresponding air stream at any desired angle within arange of 360. Thus the stationary nozzles can be directed to blow at thefloor, at the overhead, or at any part of the spinning frame, asdesired. A friction drag in the form of a strap 44 mounted at one end onthe stationary motor housing and hearing at its free end against therotationally adjustable blower casing 34" will serve to maintain theblower casing and hence the nozzle or nozzles of the latter at thedesired blowing angle.

In conclusion it will be understood that the embodiments of thetravelling cleaner above described are to be considered typical ratherthan exhaustive of the structural arrangements that can be devised, andhence various changes may be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.Also, while the travelling cleaner has been illustrated as being mountedon a carriage running on rails above the level of the textile machinery,it is evident that other known forms of overhead trackage may beutilized such as, for example, the well known monorail from which thetravelling cleaner would then be suspended, the monorail being securedto the overhead rather than supported on the machinery.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for cleaning textile machinery such as a spinning frame orthe like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally of theframe above the same, support means extending laterally outward inopposite directions from said carriage and frame, a motor mounted uponeach outer end of said support means, a centrifugal fan rotatable byeach said motor about a substantially horizontal axis parallel to thedirection of carriage travel, a substantially vertical rotatably mountedcasing around each said fan, each said casing having at least one outletnozzle directed tangentially of the fan casing associated therewith, andmeans effecting rotational movement of said casings and hence saidnozzles to direct air strems therefrom towards opposite sides of saidframe as said carriage moves along said frame.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each said casing includes twonozzles displaced about the axis of the associated fan.,

3. Apparatus for cleaning textile" machinery such as av spinning frameor. the like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally ofthe frame above the same, support means extending laterally outward inopposite directions from said carriage and frame, a motor mounted uponeach outer end of said support means, a pair of centrifugal fansrotatable by each said motor about a substantially horizontal axisparallel to the direction of carriage travel, a substantially verticalrotatably mounted casing around each said fan, each said casing havingat least one outlet nozzle directed tangentially of the fan casingassociated therewith, means effecting rotational movement of one casingof each pair of fans to direct air streams therefrom towards oppositesides of said frame as said carriage moves along said frame, the othercasing of each pair of fans and hence the said nozzle thereon beingadjustable to a selected stationary blowing angle about the axis of thefan.

4. Apparatus for cleannig textile machinery such as a spinning frame orthe like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally of theframe above the same, support means extending laterally outward inopposite directions from said carriage and frame, a motor mounted uponeach outer end of said support means, a pair of centrifugal fansrotatable by each said motor about a substantially horizontal axisparallel to the direction of carriage travel, a substantially verticalrotatably mounted casing around each fan, each said casing having atleast one outlet nozzle directed tangentially of the fan casingassociated therewith and means effecting rotational movement of all ofsaid casings and hence the nozzles thereon to direct streams of airtherefrom towards opposite sides of said frame as said carriage movesalong said frame.

5. Apparatus for cleaning textile machinery such as a spinning frame orthe like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally of theframe on a trackway above the same, support means extending laterallyoutward in opposite directions from said carriage and frame, a motormounted upon each outer end of said support means, at least onecentrifugal fan rotatable by each motor about a substantially horizontalaxis parallel to the direction of carriage travel, a substantiallyvertical rotatably mounted casing around each said fan, each said casinghaving at least one outlet nozzle directed tangentially of the fancasing associated therewith, and a power take-off from said carriageeffecting rotational movement of said casings and hence the nozzlesthereon to direct streams of air therefrom towards opposite sides ofsaid frame as said carriage moves along said frame.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 for cleaning textile machinerywherein said power take-off comprises drive shafting extending from aroller disc on said carriage running in friction contact with saidtrackway.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 for cleaning textile machinerywherein said power take-off comprises drive shafting extending from aroller disc on said carriage running in friction contact with saidtrackway, a first sprocket secured to each casing concentric with theaxis of rotation thereof, a second sprocket driven by said driveshafting, and a chain connecting said first and second sprockets.

8. Apparatus for cleaning textile machinery such as a spinning'frame orthe like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally of theframe on a trackway lo cated above the frame, support arms extendinglaterally outward in opposite directions from said carriage, a motormounted at the outer end of each said arm, each said motor includingdrive shafts extending horizontally from each end thereof parallel withthe direction of movement of said carriage along the frame, acentrifugal fan mounted on each drive shaft of each motor, a casingaround each of said fans mounted for rotation about the axis of saidfan, each said fan and its associated casing being disposed in avertical plane normal to the longitudinal axis of'the frame whentravelling along the same, each said casing including at least onenozzle directing a stream of air in the plane of the casing, and a powertake-oil derived from movement of said carriage along said trackway forcontinuously rotating said casings and hence said nozzles thereby tocause the streams of air issuing therefrom to be directed towardsopposite sides of the frame as said carriage moves alongsaid frame andto move upwardly or downwardly along the frame sides in accordance withthe direction of rotation of said casings.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 for cleaning textile machinerywherein said power take-off includes a roller disc mounted on saidcarriage, said roller disc being spring-loaded into a running frictionalcontact with said trackway, and drive shafting extending from saidroller disc converting rotary motion thereof into rotary motion of saidcasings.

10. Apparatus for cleaning textile machinery such as a spinning frameand the like comprising a carriage adapted to travel longitudinally ofthe frame above the same, support means extending laterally outward inopposite directions from said carriage and frame, a motor mounted uponeach 'outer end of said support means, a pair of centrifugal fansconnected to each said motor,

each said fan including an impeller rotatable by said motor about asubstantially horizontal axis parallel to the direction of carriagetravel and a substantially vertical casing surrounding said impeller,each said casing havinga nozzle arranged tangentially thereto fordischarging-air from the impeller associated therewith, one of saidcasings of each pair being stationary, and means for rotating the othercasing of each pair to direct air streams outwardly from the associatednozzles in different directions as said carriage moves along the frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHERREFERENCES Textile World, American Monorail Adv., January 1955 issue,page 138. Textile World, Bahnson Adv., October 1955 issue, page 172.

